Cole proves me right and shares his bad attitude with Paps

A day after I questioned Cole Hamels' attitude, he sinks lower, complaining that the Phillies gave him only $500,000:

"It was a low blow," Hamels said, later adding:

"That will affect down the line certain things that come up. You can't just all of a sudden throw everything out at [a player] at the last second and think that's really going to make him happy, because you still have checkmarks for what [the team] didn't do in the years before."

Chill, Cole. So you make a few thousand less than you want this year. You know when you make that up? When you hit the free agent market, which you'll do before you're 30 years old. That means if you concentrate on your pitching and avoid injury, you'll be marketed as the best lefty in the game and command a nine-figure contract.

The media has been floating the comps - $489,500 for Chien-Ming Wang and $424,300 for Scott Kazmir at the same stage of their careers. Hardly a low blow, Cole.

In the Red Sox camp, our dancing queen, Jonathan Papelbon is also getting his nose bent out of shape over his pre-arbitration contract:

"I can’t sell myself short. I know they’re not going to give me what I want, so the question becomes, ‘How close can we get?’ If I can’t get close, they can just renew me.”

Then:

"Ryan Howard got $900,000 in his third year. There it is. It’s staring (the Red Sox) right in the face."

Boston media reminds him that Bobby Jenks, with identical service time, got $550,000 from the White Sox this year. Papelbon is the premier closer in baseball, thus he should get more than Jenks. But the best closer isn't worth as much as an everyday player who has won the MVP and Rookie of the Year. Negotiate somewhere in the middle. Then, when you hit free agency, go to the highest bidder if you no longer care about winning.

Until then, Cole and Paps, enjoy that you're on competitive teams and don't worry about money until it's time to shop your services.